Escort Group B7 was a British formation of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

which saw action during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

; principally in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

Formation

Escort Group B7 was one of seven such British naval groups which served with the

Mid-Ocean Escort Force Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) referred to the organisation of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and Newfoundland, and the British Isles. The allocation of United States, British, and Canadian escorts to these co ...

(MOEF). It provided convoy protection in the most dangerous midsection of the North Atlantic route. The MOEF was originally to be five American, five British and four Canadian groups. B7 was formed in the spring of 1942, following the inability of the USN to form groups A-4 and A-5 due to other commitments. To replace them, two new escort groups, B6 and B7, were formed.

Service history

Led by , under the leadership of Commander William Banks, B7 comprised six s; from the disbanded American group A-5, and , , , and . These were joined later by the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s HMS ''Chesterfield'' and ''Ripley''. B7's first convoys, in the spring of 1942, were uneventful, and as the pace of the

hotted up in the summer and autumn, the group's charges were escorted without loss. But in December, while escorting ON 153, the convoy came under attack, and three ships were sunk. During this action, on 11 December, ''Firedrake'' was torpedoed by the

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

and sank with the loss of 168 of her crew, including her current commander, and the group's Senior Officer – Escort (SOE), Commander Eric Tilden. Initially 35 survived the torpedoing, but only 27 managed to get on board ''Sunflower'', which was under the command of Captain John Treasure Jones. Corvettes of Escort Group B7

B7's new SOE was Cdr

Peter Gretton Vice Admiral Sir Peter William Gretton (27 August 1912 – 11 November 1992) was an officer in the Royal Navy. He was active in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War, and was a successful convoy escort commander. He eventually ...

, of , a tough and capable leader, who quickly molded the group to his own image. At this point B7 comprised the destroyers ''Duncan'', , the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

, and the corvettes HMS ''Alisma'', ''Loosestrife'', ''Pink'', ''Sunflower'' and . After several convoys had been escorted without loss, B7 covered HX 231 in April 1943. This came under attack by the ''Lowenherz'' U-boat group, which sank six ships, but saw two submarines destroyed and five damaged. In May 1943, B7 escorted ONS 5, sometimes regarded as the turning point of the Atlantic campaign.
In a week long battle against three U-boat groups, ''Star'', ''Amstel'' and later ''Fink'', ONS 5 saw the loss of 13 ships, for the destruction of six U-boats, and the disabling of 7. At least four of these were credited to ships of the B7. Later that month returning with SC 130, B7 saw the destruction of between three and five U-boats (sources vary) for no losses. at least one of these was credited to ships of B7. A series of uneventful convoys followed, as the

U-boat Arm The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the an ...

withdrew from the North Atlantic after 'Black May', while Gretton lobbied for a chance for B7 to operate as a

Support Group In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...

. In October 1943 this was given, as the German U-boat Arm launched its autumn offensive. B7 was involved in the battles for convoys ONS 20 and ON 206, ON 207 and ON 208, during which period nine U-boats were destroyed. The battle for ONS20/206 saw six U-boats sunk, of which was credited to ''Sunflower'' and another, , was damaged by ''Duncan'', to be destroyed later in an air attack. ON 207 saw three U-boats destroyed; one, () by ships of B7, another was shared with aircraft. During this period B7 had steamed 6,700 miles, crossing back and forth across the Atlantic five times. The group members had refuelled at sea on six occasions, and had also re-armed with depth charges at sea. Following this B7 returned to escort duty on the North Atlantic route, continuing without major incident until the group was disbanded in the summer of 1944 as part of the preparations for

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, the naval contribution to the

Normandy invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

Losses

Ships lost

*HMS ''Firedrake'' torpedoed and sunk by ''U-211'' escorting convoy ON 153 on 16 December 1942.

U-boats destroyedKemp pp. 113–14, 119, 152–54

* ''U-192'' depth-charged by ''Pink'' on 5 May 1943. *''U-638'' depth-charged by ''Loosestrife'' on 5/6 May 1943. * ''U-125'' rammed by HMS ''Oribi'' and finished off with gun-fire by ''Snowflake'' on 6 May 1943. * ''U-531'' depth-charged by ''Snowflake'' and hit by

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

(a new type of anti-submarine weapon), from ''Vidette'' on 6 May 1943. * ''U-381'' depth-charged by ''Snowflake'' and hit by 'Hedgehog' from ''Duncan'' on 19 May 1943. * ''U-631'' depth-charged by ''Sunflower'' on 17 October 1943. * ''U-274'' attacked by aircraft, hit by 'Hedgehog' from ''Duncan'' on 26 October 1943. * ''U-282'' by ''Duncan'' and ''Vidette'' on 29 October 1943.

Commanding officers - Senior Officer Escort

Notes

References

*Clay Blair : ''Hitler's U-Boat War Vol II'', (1998). *Peter Gretton : ''Convoy Escort Commander'', (1964). ISBN (none) *Paul Kemp : ''U-Boats Destroyed '' (1997). *Axel Neistle : ''German U-Boat Losses during World War II'', (1998). * Rohwer, J. and Hummelchen, G.: ''Chronology of the War'' at Sea 1939–1945, (1992). * Stephen Roskill : ''The War at Sea 1939–1945, Vol III, pt I'', (1960). ISBN (none) * Capt. John Treasure Jones: ''Tramp to Queen'', (2008). {{ISBN, 978-0-7524-4625-7

External links

*http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4706.html Alisma at uboatnet *http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4386.html Firedrake at uboatnet *http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-23F-Firedrake.htm Firedrake at naval history *http://www.hmsfiredrake.co.uk/ Firedrake Association with survivors' accounts *http://www.carlsen.karoo.net/ Sunflower crewman's website describing his 2nd Drafting *http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-18D-Duncan.htm Duncan at naval history Escort Groups of the Royal Navy in World War II